Smithsonian Launches Kickstarter Campaign For Hip-Hop & Rap Anthology

The collection will include more than 120 songs, as well as a 300-page book contains essays, track-by-track notes and never-before-published images.

The Smithsonian Institution, has launched a Kickstarter campaign in an attempt to help raise funds for his mammoth anthology dedicated to the Hip Hop music and culture.

The organization hopes to raise $ 250,000 in donations by November 16th. As of press time, the donations sat at $49,950 from 419 backers.

Today we launch the 30 days of @Kickstarter campaign to produce a @Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop & Rap with @Folkways! #HipHopHistory pic.twitter.com/atGdLiAAsB

— Smithsonian NMAAHC (@NMAAHC) October 17, 2017

The collection entitled Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap – which include more than 120 songs over nine discs, as well as a 300-page book, containing essays, extensive track by track notes and never-before-published images. It will be the first collection of this type that include the music of the major labels, as well as dozens of independent record labels.

The anthology is a collaboration between the National Museum of african american History and Culture, and Grammy Award-winning record label Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. The project is described as "a cultural statement through the music, the text and the images spectacular."

"The Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap are illustrated different social and political trends within the genre, such as police brutality, feminism, and Afrocentrism," the project's Kickstarter page says. "You are going to explore these themes through the music of the old school pioneers like the Sugarhill Gang and Roxanne Shanté to artists of today like Kanye West and Nicki Minaj — and four decades' worth of essential names in the middle."

The anthology is being developed by the Smithsonian institute, in collaboration with an advisory board, formed by a number of Hip Hop stars, including Chuck D, MC Lyte, Questlove, and 9th Wonder.

The anthology is scheduled to place in December of 2018. However, if the $250,000 goal is not met, the release will be pushed bac